Christian Petzold

225 Pages·2013·3.119 MB·English

by  Jaimey Fisher

C o n t e m p o r a r y F i l m D i r e C t o r s
Christian Petzold
Jaimey Fisher
Christian Petzold

Contemporary Film Directors
Edited by Justus Nieland and Jennifer Fay
The Contemporary Film Directors series provides concise,
well-written introductions to directors from around the
world and from every level of the film industry. Its chief
aims are to broaden our awareness of important artists,
to give serious critical attention to their work, and to il-
lustrate the variety and vitality of contemporary cinema.
Contributors to the series include an array of internationally
respected critics and academics. Each volume contains
an incisive critical commentary, an informative interview
with the director, and a detailed filmography.
A list of books in the series appears
at the end of this book.

Christian Petzold
Jaimey Fisher
University
oF
illinois
Press
UrbaNa,
ChICago,
aND
SprINgFIElD
© 2013 by the Board of Trustees
of the University of Illinois
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
1 2 3 4 5 c p 5 4 3 2 1
∞ This book is printed on acid-free paper.

Frontispiece: Christian Petzold directs Ghosts (Gespenster, 2005).
From left to right: Benno Fürmann, Sabine Timoteo, Julia Hummer,
Christian Petzold. Photo by Christian Schulz.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Fisher, Jaimey.
Christian Petzold / by Jaimey Fisher.
pages cm. — (Contemporary film directors)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-0-252-03798-6 (hardcover : alk. paper) —
isbn 978-0-252-07950-4 (pbk. : alk. paper) —
isbn 978-0-252-09523-8 (e-book)
1. Petzold, Christian, 1960- —Criticism and interpretation.
2. Petzold, Christian, 1960- —Interviews. I. Title.
pn1998.3.p467f57 2013
791.4302'33092—dc23 2013010217
For Jacqueline

Contents
Acknowledgments | xi
a ghostly archeology:
the art-house genre cinema
of christian petzold | 1
Contexts 1: Biographical-Historical 6
Contexts 2: 1990s and Post-2000 German Cinema 9
Petzold’s Ghostly Archeology of Genre 11
Pilots (Pilotinnen) 20
Cuba Libre 28
The Sex Thief (Die Beischlafdiebin) 32
The State I Am In (Die innere Sicherheit) 38
Something to Remind Me (Toter Mann) 60
Wolfsburg 67
Ghosts (Gespenster) 78
Yella 97
Jerichow 118
Dreileben: Beats Being Dead
(Dreileben: Etwas Besseres als den Tod) 131
Barbara 138